New Orleans Pelicans head coach Jamahl Mosley addressed Derik Queen's viral moment in a 138-87 loss to the Golden State Warriors. After Mosley and the Pelicans' first winning streak of 2026-27, including four straight wins last week, New Orleans lost three straight matchups to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the LA Clippers, and the Warriors on Monday.

In the fourth quarter of Monday's loss, Queen awkwardly left the Pelicans' bench and headed to the visiting locker room. For some, it looked as if Queen was in the game, but as Mosley explained, that wasn't the case before facing the Brooklyn Nets.

“We've seen it. We've all looked at it. And the thing about that was Derik was talking about his neck prior to the game. So, in that moment, he had gone to walk back to go get his neck treated because he was going to go lay down, and didn't want to lay down on the bench,” Mosley said. “And that's a tricky arena to find the locker room.

“It was either walk right behind our bench, which was closed off; there's a lot of people there. Not the path we wanted him to take, and not a good optic. But that was the reason for him walking that way to get back to the locker room to go get some treatment on his neck.”

Pelicans head coach Jamahl Mosley revealed that the team has spoken to Derik Queen about the incident.

“There's a lot you can do differently. There's a back route that goes all the way on the other side of the arena, but the quickest path is that one. That's where the players come out. That's our locker room, and it goes that direction,” Mosley added. “The other path is behind the bench, all the way around, out on the corner of the arena. Again, the optics aren't what we want them to look like.

“Again, going back to get treatment on his neck to lay down in the back locker room. But the route was not one we wanted him to take. We understand that look, and that's something that we've expressed to him, and he understands what that looks like as well.”

Jamahl Mosley on Derik Queen leaving the bench during the Warriors game pic.twitter.com/XI9qr3pMCy

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) November 11, 2026

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It was unfortunate timing for Queen to take the quickest route to the Pelicans' locker room. There's a good chance he'll never do that again.

Despite the awkward incident, the Pelicans' Queen is off to a strong start to his second season. He's averaging 11.7 points on 47.% shooting, 7.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.0 steals per game in 2026-27.